Vision

To offer every visitor the ability to plan their stay like a local: discovering the region, building an itinerary, and adjusting it based on their profile, the weather, and the time of their visit, with the ease of someone who knows the area by heart.

For a tourist destination, reliability is paramount. A single bad answer a restaurant that no longer exists or a museum that is no longer open to the public is enough to lose the visitor: cognitively, they stop trusting the system; emotionally, they no longer want to engage with it. The vision was therefore not to create just another chatbot, but a reliable, traceable tool that could be deployed with confidence, first at the welcome desk, and then on the web.

‍

Solution

Hologram designed Jules, a discovery agent that transforms validated content from Tourisme Trois-Rivières into personalized itineraries. Rather than answering freely like a general-purpose assistant, Jules follows a structured flow that ensures the relevance and reliability of every response. The solution is built on four pillars:

• A reliable agentic flow. Jules analyzes the request and directs it to the right agent, identifies the steps to follow, searches through validated sources, selects data relevant to the visitor, writes a personalized response, and displays the results on a map.
• Continuously enriched content. Nearly 400 partner listings (attractions, events, bars and restaurants, accommodations), around a hundred blog posts prepared by local experts, the regularly updated maRuche API, and external APIs for weather and geolocation.
• Features designed for the traveler. Recommendations based on weather, time of day, and proximity, an interactive map, favorites, and conversation sharing via link.
• Robust guardrails. Jules resists attempts at manipulation, politely declines requests outside its scope, and remains focused on tourism in Trois-Rivières, never inventing addresses or operating hours.

‍

Approach: from the office to the web

The strength of the project lies less in the technology than in the method. Rather than launching the agent directly on the web, the team chose a progressive approach, rooted in real-world experience.

Phase 1: office pilot

Jules was first deployed in a controlled environment, used by reception staff with a visitor present. This phase allowed for real-time feedback from the field team, the refinement of responses, sources, and tone based on real-world scenarios, and re-validation before any public launch.

Phase 2: Web deployment

Building on the lessons learned from the pilot, the agent was gradually launched on the Tourisme Trois-Rivières website, with close monitoring during the first few weeks to adjust the user journey, response time, and result display.

‍

People before technology

Talent, process, technology: in that order. The project was designed to amplify the team's capabilities, not replace them. Governance was established from the start (clear scope, quality criteria, prioritization of iterations, and definition of success), and success relied on an internal ally capable of facilitating, opening doors, and championing the project to colleagues.

‍

Result

The phased approach paid off: after a successful pilot phase at the reception desk, Jules was launched on the web with confidence.

• A successful launch on the Tourisme Trois-Rivières website, validated by the client and supported by procedures for monitoring and rapid deactivation.
• Content finally put to work. Hundreds of partner listings and articles that were once underutilized are now accessible in a personalized way, restoring visibility to the long tail of partners.
• A well-equipped reception team, capable of generating a custom itinerary in seconds and sharing it with the visitor.

‍

‍